Motorola Moto G will hit US with Android 4.4 KitKat, while UK must wait until end of January

Motorola ignored Europe when it released the flagship Moto X smartphone, and now it appears the company is favouring the US again when it comes to upgrading the Moto G to Android 4.4 KitKat.

Motorola told Pocket-lint last August that it had a family of devices destined for a global release later down the line. The first of those devices was the Moto G. It unveiled this month with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on board. Many Brits were disappointed to see the Moto G without the latest version of Android, but it was also somewhat expected because the Moto G is a just mid-range, affordable handset.

As for when the Moto G will get KitKat, Motorola promised an upgrade but hadn't said much more on the matter until now. Mark Randal, senior vice-president of supply chain at Motorola, told Omio that the US version of the Moto G will land with KitKat after Christmas. As for the UK and other European countries, they'll have to wait until the end of January to install KitKat.

"UK, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, France are in what we call Wave 1. And Wave 1 will release with 4.3, and by the end of January, all those people will get onto 4.4," said Randal, according to Omio.

"Wave 2, products that we ship after Christmas, will start with KitKat. So if you think about it, everyone by the end of January will have KitKat," Randal added. "Wave 2 is in the US; there’s South East Asia, and other countries."

Motorola has thus decided that the US version of Moto G will get KitKat straightaway, though it isn't clear whether it will land with KitKat pre-installed. That said, the Moto G is already on sale in the UK, so it looks as though uswes will have access to the device for three months before it even gets KitKat. Better late than never.